Price, Longoria help end season for Texas

1of2Nelson Cruz of the Rangers, who returned from a 50-day suspension for Monday's game, grimaces after striking out.

2of2ARLINGTON, TX - SEPTEMBER 30: The Tampa Bay Rays celebrate defeating the Texas Rangers 5 to 2 in the American League Wild Card tiebreaker game at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on September 30, 2013 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)Photo: Ronald Martinez, Getty Images

ARLINGTON — David Price, Evan Longoria and the Tampa Bay Rays are going to the playoffs again, getting there with a victory in their final regular-season game for the second time in three years.

They needed an extra game this time.

Price threw his fourth complete game of the season, Longoria had a two-run homer, and the Rays beat the Texas Rangers 5-2 in the AL wild-card tiebreaker game Monday night, the 163rd game for both teams.

The Rays face another must-win situation Wednesday night at Cleveland in the AL wild-card game — the winner faces Boston in the division series. Tampa Bay, in the playoffs for the fourth time in six years, won four of six from the Indians during the regular season.

Price (10-8), the reigning AL Cy Young winner, had a 10.26 ERA in four previous starts at Rangers Ballpark. He was superb in this one, striking out four and walking one. He picked off two runners while allowing seven hits and throwing 81 of 118 pitches for strikes.

“When you can get outs without throwing pitches, that's always huge,” Price said. “If I don't get those two outs on the pickoff moves, I have to get the next guys out. It forces me to throw at least 10 more pitches.”

The 28-year-old lefty reached 10 wins for the fifth straight season. He missed more than six weeks because of a triceps strain but is 9-4 in his 13 starts since returning July 2 from his first career stint on the disabled list.

Longoria had three hits, continuing his stellar play in the last game of regular seasons. He is hitting .579 (11 for 19) in those finales with seven homers and 10 RBIs, according to STATS.

Texas had won seven in a row, needing every one of those wins just to force the majors' first wild-card tiebreaker since 2007.

Even with the return of All-Star slugger Nelson Cruz from his 50-game drug suspension, the Rangers missed a chance to get to the playoffs for the fourth year in a row.

Cruz, who had 27 homers and 76 RBIs in 108 games before his suspension, was 0 for 4 with a strikeout while hitting sixth as the designated hitter. His groundout to shortstop ended the game.

The Rangers had beaten Tampa Bay in the AL division series in 2010 and 2011 on the way to their only two World Series. It was the second year in a row their season ended in a do-or-die game at home — they lost to Baltimore in the first AL wild-card game last year.

Tampa Bay and Texas are the only teams in the majors to win at least 90 games in each of the last four seasons.